When I came to AA, my sponsors made me focus on just one issue alone, my alcoholism. I had many questions for them, but the 12 steps were practiced first and I believe that is one of the reasons I had stayed sober for last 22 years.
I was cross addicted to the pills the psychiatrist prescribed, but I found that many alcoholics have the same problem. When I dealt with the underlying causes of my alcoholism, my dependency on other medication also left me. Today I believe that God has removed my addiction problem completely. I am an alcoholic and my recovery is through Alcoholics Anonymous.
That was my experience as well, and one of the most important of the "lessons" I learned upon coming to AA, I have since learned that untreated alcoholism "presents" as a host of other psychological maladies, such as clinical depression, anxiety, OCD, etc ad nauseum and what the old timers did was convince me to concentrate on this one thing (working the steps thoroughly to address my ISM) before attempting to address my other so called "issues" and the truth is my other "issues" fell away or became manageable.
I have gone to therapy in Sobriety, I went to a psychriatrist, and the therapy was incredibly helpful, and the psychriatrist (who specialized in treating patients in sobriety, he wouldn't have anything to do with someone without a few years Sober and a few trips through the steps) and have gone to other 12 step Programs, the truth of the matter is I always end up here, back at AA's 12 steps, both in The Big Book and the 12 x 12, the answers I sought have always been here, although many times I didn't see that until hindsight
It makes me sad to see so many newcomers put the cart before the horse and attempt to address their "issues" and psychological problems" before -really- addressing the ISM that we face, since that ISM with it's ability to present in so many different forms has the ability to fool even the most astute Doctors and Psychriatrists and Therapists if left untreated, then the symptoms get treated but not the disease, and also our hideously overinflated and overdiagnosed medical profession sells billions of dollars of pills that just mask the actual problems without addressing it
Today I am grateful for the tough old gruff old timers with their incredible wisdom that helped me recover from this progressive and fatal disease, I am glad I was beaten into submission enough to listen and do what they told me, and that they were tough enough and kind enough to lead me when my mind (my biggest problem) lead me astray, which it did so very frequently
They allowed me to do and learn many things on my own, but gave me good orderly direction and brought me up short when my delusional thinking got the better of me
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it's not the change that's painful, it's the resistance to change that is painful
Thanks for your input Lin. In our part of the world, abstinence has been preached for so long, that it is a huge battle to get a newcomer back onto the 12 step recovery program. Please post more often. We sincerely need to share our ES&H with the new ones, even if they get mad at us.
